Styrenes

Cleveland proto-punk combo the Styrenes was originally formed in 1971 by singer/guitarist Jamie Klimek, bassist Craig Bell, and drummer Mike Weldon; initially dubbed the Mirrors, the three high schoolers soon added guitarist Jim Crook to the lineup, honing a noisy pop sound so out of step with other local acts that live gigs became impossible to come by. Still, the Mirrors forged ahead, recording a 1975 session which eventually yielded the single "She Smiled Wild," issued on Pere Ubu's David Thomas' Hearthen label two years later. By that time, the Mirrors had rechristened themselves the Styrenes, replaced Bell with bassist Jim Jones, and issued the single "Drano in Your Veins." In 1980, Klimek and keyboardist Paul Marotta relocated to New York City, where they formed a new Styrenes lineup and issued the LP Girl Crazy the following year; 1989's Monster and the Devil found the group backing onetime Pagans frontman Mike Hudson. After several more years out of the spotlight, a newly recorded Mirrors album, Another Nail in the Remodeled Coffin, was released in 1994. Weldon, meanwhile, went on to publish the cult favorite B-movie magazine Psychotronic Video, and Jones later surfaced in the latter-day incarnation of Pere Ubu. Shockingly enough, the band reunited in 1998 and started where they left off, representing their native Ohio with a distinctly rough and tumble rock sound that was familiar to anyone who followed them before. ~ Jason Ankeny